UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB. 


ALLEGED  FRAUDS 


DEPARTMENTS 


CITY  GOVERNMENT 


Remedies  Proposed. 


BURR 


NEW  YORK: 
PRINTING  HOUSE. 
1884. 


i£x  iGtbria 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  hook." 


\  \  I  RY  AJICHITI  CTURAL  WD  I  l\l  ARTS  LIBRARY 
Giftoi  SEYMOUR  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB. 


ALLEGED  FRAUDS 

IN 

DEPARTMENTS 

OF  THE 

CITY  GOVERNMENT. 


Remedies  Proposed. 


NEW  YORK  : 
BURR   PRINTING  HOUSE. 
1884. 


tSox  so 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/allegedfraudsindOOu 


UNION  LEAGUE  CLUB. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  POLITICAL 

REFORM. 

The  Club  at  the  December  meeting  (1883)  passed  a  reso- 
lution that  the  Committee  on  Political  Reform  consider  and 
report  what  action,  if  any,  on  the  part  of  this  Club,  "  with 
regard  to  the  investigation  and  punishment  of  fraud  in  the 
various  departments  of  the  City  Government  may  be  useful 
to  promote  reform  in  municipal  affairs." 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  resolution  is  not  confined  to  the 
alleged  frauds  in  the  Department  of  Public  Works,  but  to 
those  of  all  the  departments,  and  thus  embraces  the  entire 
subject  of  City  Government.  The  City  of  New  York  is  the 
commercial  emporium,  not  merely  of  the  State,  but  of  the 
whole  Union,  and  the  interest  felt  in  its  government  is, 
therefore,  general.  To  see  that  it  is  well  governed  is  a 
duty  which  no  good  citizen  of  New  York  can  neglect. 

Although  the  City  received  its  first  charters  long  before 
the  adoption  of  the  State  Constitution,  it  has  now  no  rights 
of  an  independent  character,  except  so  far  as  some  fran- 
chises or  its  private  property  are  concerned.  Judge  Denio, 
in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  the 
case  of  Darlington  v.  The  Mayor,  declared  that  the  City 
was  incapable  of  holding  any  private  property,  or  any  which 
the  State  might  not  control.  Judge  Denio  left  this  point 
somewhat  in  doubt  by  observing  that  if  the  Legislature 
should  take  from  the  City  property  standing  in  its  name 
and  apply  it  to  the  purposes  of  another  locality,  he  would 
not  say  that  this  might  be  done.  Whatever  doubt  there 
may  be  on  this  particular  point,  there  is  none  whatever, 
that,  as  to  all  public  questions,  the  City  is  merely  a  part  of 
the  political  machinery  of  the  State  for  carrying  into  effect 
its  powers  of  government.  The  State  is  absolute  in  this 
respect. 


The  City  of  New  York  to-day  is  badly  governed  in  all  its 
branches.  It  is  in  the  hands  of  a  majority  composed  of 
many  of  its  worst  citizens,  most  of  them  tax-eaters.  Chief 
among  these  are  the  licensed  and  unlicensed  keepers  of  grog- 
shops, numbering  together  eight  or  nine  thousand  establish- 
ments, each  one  exercising  over  voters  a  greater  influence  in 
producing  misgovernment  than  does  each  of  the  few  hun- 
dred reliable  churches  in  the  City  exercise  in  producing 
good  government. 

The  complexion  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  elected  in 
November  last  shows  how  far  we  have  gene  from  the  possi- 
bility of  good  government.  The  Board  consists  of  twenty- 
four  members.  Of  these  all  but  seven  or  eight  represent 
the  party  of  tax-eaters.  Its  President  occupies  the  respon- 
sible post,  of  being  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment,  which  consists  of  only  four  persons.  It  is 
a  matter  of  difficulty  that  the  other  members  of  the  Board 
place  a  check  upon  what  the  Aldermen  require,  through 
their  representative.  Mr.  Asten,  one  of  the  members  of 
the  Board,  has  been  zealous  in  resisting  this  influence. 

The  City  of  New  York  has  been  in  such  hands  for  many 
years,  and  the  rate  of  taxation  to-day  (2.29)  now  exceeds 
the  rate  of  interest  which  can  -be  earned  by  call  loans,  and 
very  nearly  equals  what  can  be  earned  upon  Government 
bonds  to  purchasers  of  them  at  the  premium  now  charged. 
The  rate  of  taxation  amounts  practically  to  an  annihilation 
of  a  large  amount  of  the  property  held  by  tax-payers. 
Every  addition  to  the  rate  tends  to  diminish  income.  The 
question  becomes  one  of  great  interest,  how  soon  the  tax  on 
real  estate  will  equal  the  possibilities  of  its  income.  This 
year  the  rate  will  be  increased,  or  the  valuation  of  taxable 
property  augmented  to  prevent  that  result. 

No  one  accustomed  to  good  government  expects  that  the 
Aldermen  of  the  City  will  exercise  their  powers  to  secure 
such  a  blessing.  Their  action  is  wholly  in  the  opposite 
direction,  and  of  course  influences  many  of  those  officials 
whose  confirmation  is  due  to  them. 

The  Commissioner  of  Public  Works  was  nominated  by 
Mayor  Cooper  and  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen. 


5 


This  was  in  December,  1880.  It  was  freely  charged  at  this 
time  that  many  of  the  Board  were  either  paid  or  expected 
pay  for  this  service.  It  was  well  known  that  Mr.  Thompson 
had  no  single  qualification  for  this  post.  During  the  year 
1882  he  expended  the  enormous  sum  of  six  millions  and 
upward.  This  expenditure,  it  may  be  supposed,  was  made 
under  no  greater  scrutiny  than  was  exercised  by  the  late 
Comptroller  in  the  alleged  Carroll  frauds. 

During  the  years  1881,  1882,  and  1883,  notwithstanding 
an  unparalleled  expenditure  by  this  officer,  it  has  pro- 
gressed without  disturbing  either  the  present  or  late  Comp- 
troller, or  the  present  or  late  Mayor,  officers  relied  on  for 
supervision.  During  nearly  the  whole  period  of  three 
years,  what  are  called  unbalanced  bids  have  been  accepted 
by  the  Department  of  Public  Works,  for  works  involving  a 
large  expenditure,  and  the  provision  of  the  charter  requir- 
ing publication  and  submission  to  competitive  and  sealed 
bids,  when  the  amount  exceeds  $1000,  has  not  been  com- 
plied with. 

A  single  case  will  show  very  clearly  what  is  meant  by  un- 
balanced bids.  For  regulating,  etc.,  Ninety-fifth  Street  for 
a  short  distance,  bids  were  called  for  on  an  estimate  that 
there  were  to  be  excavated  in  cubic  yards  1930  of  earth  and 
21,540  of  rock.  A  firm  which  treated  this  estimate  as  rea- 
sonably correct,  bid  for  each  cubic  yard  of  earth  30  cents, 
and  of  rock  $1.25,  amounting,  on  the  basis  of  the  estimate, 
to  $33)909-  This  firm  was  evidently  not  one  of  tlfe  favored, 
and  the  bid  was  fair  and  reasonable.  Another  bidder,  who 
evidently  supposed  that  the  estimate  of  work  to  be  done, 
made  by  Mr.  Thompson's  department,  of  rock  excavation 
was  excessively  large,  and  that  of  earth  excessively  small, 
bid  $13.95  per  cubic  yard  for  earth,  and  one  cent  per  cubic 
yard  for  rock,  amounting,  on  the  basis  of  the  estimate,  as. 
entered  in  the  books  of  the  office,  to  $28,318.65  ;  but  he 
was  not  the  man.  Another,  better  informed,  bid  per  cubic 
yard  for  earth  $8,  and  per  cubic  yard  for  excavating  rock 
one  fourth  of  a  cent,  amounting,  on  the  basis  of  the  esti- 
mate, to  $15,676.29  !  This  bidder  carried  off  the  prize. 
He  was  paid,  up  to  the  14th  of  November  last,  $30,801  75, 


6 


and  vastly  more  will  have  to  be  paid.  Up  to  that  date  he 
had  earned  §40,002.50,  and  the  work  is  still  unfinished.  At 
one  fourth  of  a  cent  per  cubic  yard  for  21,540  of  rock, 
the  total  would  be  only  $53.85  At  $8  per  cubic  yard  for 
1930  of  earth,  the  total  would  be  $15,440.  These  amounts 
seem  like  a  complete  satire  on  business  methods. 

It  will  be  well  at  this  point  to  see  how  the  Court  of 
Appeals  views  such  variations  from  reasonable  prices.  In 
1873  the  Department  of  Public  Works  built  a  sewer  by 
day's  work.  The  Leake  and  Watts  Orphan  Home  applied 
to  the  courts  for  relief,  on  the  ground  of  fraudulent  prices. 
The  Court  of  Appeals  during  last  year  (92d  N.  Y.  Reports) 
held  as  follows  : 

**  An  expenditure  of  $14  per  cubic  yard  for  rock  excava- 
tion, which  should  have  cost  but  $4,  and  $7  per  foot  for  pipe, 
which  should  have  cost  but  $1.50,  and  $25  per  lineal  foot 
for  brick  sewer,  which  should  have  cost  but  $4.55,  shows  not 
merely  a  case  of  improvidence  and  extravagance,  but  very 
satisfactorily  that  there  was  either  gross  fraud,  imposition, 
mistake,  or  irregularity,  and  fully  justifies  the  finding  of  the 
Court  at  special  term."  The  assessment  was  reduced  to  the 
just  amount. 

In  1873,  after  the  exposure  of  Tweed's  frauds,  the  com- 
mittee of  seventy  citizens  proposed  legislation  with  a  view 
to  their  prevention,  and  by  the  91st  section  of  the  new 
charter  the  Legislature  enacted  that  when  the  expenditure 
for  supplies  exceeded  $icco  "  the  same  shall  be  by  contract 
under  such  regulations  concerning  it  as  shall  be  established 
by  ordinance  of  the  Common  Council  .  .  .  and,  unless 
otherwise  ordered,  by  a  vote  of  three  fourths  of  the  members 
elected  to  the  Common  Council  ;  and  all  contracts  shall  be 
entered  into  by  the  appropriate  Heads  of  Department,  and 
shall,  except  as  herein  otherwise  provided,  be  founded  on 
sealed  bids  or  proposals  made  in  compliance  with  public 
notice  duly  advertised  in  the  City  record,  said  notice  to  be 
published  at  least  ten  days,  and  all  contracts,  when  given, 
shall  be  given  to  the  lowest  bidder." 

This  clause  was  amended  by  the  57th  section  of  the  con- 
solidation act  of  1882,  Chap.  410,  to  take  effect  March  1st, 


7 


1883,  by  striking  out  the  part  in  italics  and  inserting  "  if  the 
Head  of  Department  shall  not  deem  it  for  the  interests  of  the 
City  to  reject  all  bidsy  he  shall,  without  the  consent  or  ap- 
proval of  any  other  department  or  officer  of  the  City  Gov- 
ernment, award  the  contract  to  the  lowest  bidder.'' 

The  contract  mentioned,  at  the  extraordinary  rate  of  $8 
per  cubic  yard  for  earth  excavation,  worth  about  30  cents 
per  cubic  yard,  was  made  by  the  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works  after  the  amendment  giving  him  power  to  reject  bids 
took  effect.  Independently  of  the  amendment,  unbalanced 
bids  might  have  been  rejected  on  the  ground  that  on  their 
face  they  exhibited  the  fraud  held  by  the  Court  of  Appeals 
in  the  case  quoted,  to  have  existed,  when  a  much  smaller 
difference  between  the  amount  alleged  to  have  been  paid, 
and  what  should  have  been  paid,  arose.  It  must  be  evident 
that  the  system  which  promotes  unbalanced  bids  can  arise 
only  in  departments  improperly  managed.  They  permit  a 
mode,  the  most  certain,  of  reaching  and  rapidly  diminishing 
the  property  of  citizens.  The  pretence  that  it  has  not  been 
largely  accomplished,  founded  on  data  not  within  reach  of 
private  citizens,  will  be  treated  with  distrust  by  those  who 
know  that  such  methods  are  not  resorted  to  except  for  pur- 
poses of  plunder. 

Nor  will  this  opinion  be  at  all  changed  by  the  ground 
taken  at  this  late  day  by  Mr.  Thompson,  for  it  will  be 
regarded  as  an  afterthought  that  he  caused  borings  to  be 
made  after  the  bid  for  grading,  etc.,  part  of  Ninety-fifth 
Street  came  in,  and  that  the  original  estimates  were  con- 
firmed. 

It  will  have  been  seen  that  by  the  terms  of  the  act  of 
1873  and  of  1882  all  Heads  of  Department  are  compelled  to 
resort  to  competitive  bids  after  advertisement,  in  case  the 
quantity  of  an  article  purchased  amounts  in  price  to  over 
one  thousand  dollars. 

In  respect  to  coal  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Health 
Department  obtain  their  supplies  in  the  manner  required  by 
the  statute.  In  1881  and  1882  there  are  over  forty  in- 
stances in  which  the  purchases  of  coal  by  the  Department  of 
Public  Works  come  a  little  short  of  $1000  in  each  instance* 


8 


In  one  case,  on  May  nth,  1881,  the  Department  purchased 
from  one  person,  but  under  separate  requisitions,  411  tons, 
amounting  to  $1939.50,  which  amount  it  divided  to  steam- 
pumping  stations  as  follows  :  $949.50  for  that  at  High 
Bridge,  and  $990  for  that  at  Ninety-seventh  Street  and 
Ninth  Avenue,  thus  treating  the  purchase  as  being  two  pur- 
chases, instead  of  one.  This  matter  is  highly  important,  as 
it  amounts  to  the  assertion  of  a  principle  of  conduct  applic- 
able to  other  daily  transactions. 

By  the  95th  section  of  the  charter  of  1873,  re-enacted  in 
1882,  it  is  provided  that  any  officer  of  the  City  Government 
or  person  employed  in  its  service  who  shall  wilfully  violate 
or  evade  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  act,  or  commit  any 
fraud  upon  the  City,  or  convert  any  of  the  public  property 
to  his  own  use,  or  knowingly  permit  any  other  person  to 
convert  it,  or  by  gross  and  culpable  neglect  of  duty  allow, 
the  same  to  be  lost  to  the  City,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and,  in  addition  to  the  penalties  imposed  by 
law,  on  conviction  shall  forfeit  his  office,  etc. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  each  purchase  amounting 
to  between  $900  and  $1000,  the  sum  was  adjusted  at  under 
$1000,  owing  to  the  limitation  fixed  in  the  statute.  Barges 
or  boats  must  have  been  selected  to  carry  no  greater  quan- 
tity. Whether  convenient  or  not,  or  profitable  to  the  City 
of  not  to  comply  with  this  act,  it  is  clear  that  it  was  Mr. 
Thompson's  duty  to  make  contracts  for  the  much  larger 
quantity  required  at  the  pumping  stations,  with  the  lowest 
bidder,  after  giving  to  all  coal  dealers  the  opportunity  to 
put  in  their  bids.  There  would  be  no  chance '  for  unbal- 
anced bids  in  such  a  case  or  for  any  favoritism. 

These  methods  call  for  the  employment  of  numerous 
sagacious  voters,  so  that  every  considerable  tax-payer  has 
to  carry  an  office-holder  on  his  back,  bent  mainly  on  consid- 
ering how  he  can  relieve  the  tax-payer  of  his  surplus,  and 
most  skilfully  evade  public  scrutiny. 

There  is  another  highly  important  matter,  which  should 
receive  legislative  notice. 

In  February,  1871,  in  the  height  of  Tweed's  power,  he 
induced  the  Legislature  to  pass  an  act  entitled  "  An  act  to 


9 


provide  a  further  supply  of  pure  and  wholesome  water  for 
the  City  of  New  York."  Tweed  was  then  Commissioner  of 
Public  Works,  and,  disdaining  to  be  controlled,  he  caused 
the  Legislature  to  bestow  upon  him  an  unlimited  power  of 
expenditure  in  the  construction  of  '*  aqueducts,  reservoirs, 
dams,  sluices,  canals,  and  appurtenances."  All  payments 
were  to  be  made  on  the  mere  certificate  of  that  officer,  and 
on  his  requisition  alone  the  Comptroller  was  to  raise  the 
amount  on  bonds  of  the  City.  The  powers  were  imperial. 
It  happened,  however,  in  the  progress  of  fraudulent  legisla- 
tion at  that  session  that  an  act  for  consolidating  the  debt 
of  the  City  into  bonds  at  six  per  cent,  if  in  gold,  or  seven 
per  cent,  if  in  legahtender  notes,  was  about  being  passed, 
and  so  that  their  negotiation  might  not  be  prevented,  the 
power  to  issue  bonds  under  the  first  Tweed  act  was  limited 
to  one  million  dollars  per  annum.  On  the  same  day,  April 
6th,  1871,  the  consolidated  act  was  passed. 

After  Tweed  became  disgraced,  the  enormous  imprudence 
of  the  two  acts  for  his  benefit  as  Commissioner  of  Public 
Works  was  seen,  and  by  an  act  passed  in  1877,  Chapter  445, 
the  Tweed  acts  were  in  effect  repealed. 

In  1879,  however,  these  two  Tweed  acts  were  stealthily 
revived  by  an  extraordinary  expedient  in  legislation.  The 
repealing  act  of  1877,  by  changing  its  title  and  repealing 
Section  — ,  was  made  to  renew  the  two  Tweed  acts,  and 
they  now  remain  in  full  force  and  effect  in  the  hands  of 
Hubert  O.  Thompson  as  Commissioner  of  Public  Works. 
The  revival  was  accomplished  during  the  term  of  his  prede- 
cessor, just  previous  to  the  adjournment  of  the  Legislature 
in  June,  1879.  N°  newspaper  in  New  York  drew  public 
attention  to  this  iniquity,  and  it  was  unknown  except  to 
the  accomplished  individuals  who  engineered  it  through 
the  Legislature.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  Legislature 
knew  what  had  been  done.  This  Club  had  sent  up  its 
printed  remonstrance  against  other  expected  legislation, 
and  through  its  committee  was  in  correspondence  with 
members,  but  no  knowledge  of  the  revival  of  the  Tweed  act 
reached  them  until  after  the  adjournment. 

It  is  under  this  act  that  Hubert  O.  Thompson  is  engaged 


IO 

in  expending  one  million  dollars  per  annum,  without  other 
scrutiny  than  was  applied  to  the  coupon  frauds.  The  pres- 
ent Comptroller  issues  new  bonds  on  the  mere  requisition 
of  Mr.  Thompson,  and  makes  payments  on  his  mere  certifi- 
cate at  the  rate  of  a  million  per  annum,  without  calling,  in 
trumpet  tones,  for  the  repeal  of  the  act.  It  authorizes  the 
Commissioner  to  construct  "  aqueducts,  reservoirs,  dams, 
sluices,  canals,  and  appurtenances  without  limit  as  to  num- 
ber." He  is  now  building  the  aqueduct  from  the  Bronx 
under  it,  and  he  may  go  on  during  his  official  life  in  such 
expenditures,  and  so  may  his  successor.  Indeed,  Mr. 
Thompson  may  commence  the  Quaker  Dam,  if  he  thinks 
proper,  under  this  power.  The  surveys  made  there  have 
no  other  authority.  The  repeal  of  this  Tweed  act,  and  plac- 
ing the  Bronx  project  under  the  power  of  the  Aqueduct 
Commissioners,  is  necessary. 

What  remedies  are  proposed  for  these  enormous  evils  of 
misgovernment  ?  One  remedy,  much  relied  upon,  arises 
from  the  act  passed  May  4th,  1883,  entitled  "  An  act  to  im- 
prove the  civil  service  of  the  State  of  New  York."  One 
section  of  it  applies  especially  to  cities  having  a  population 
of  over  50,000.  It  is  hoped  that  by  placing  the  bulk  of 
subsidiary  officers  under  the  protection  of  a  well-established 
civil  service,  the  battle  now  waged  to  fill  their  positions  with 
the  political  adherents  of  the  party  which  succeeds,  may  be 
discontinued.  Great  confidence  is  felt  in  this  measure.  As 
it  will  effect  a  great  change,  some  of  the  provisions  of  the 
act  may  well  be  presented. 

This  act,  which  took  effect  on  the  first  of  this  month 
(January,  1 884),  by  the  first  section  authorizes  the  Governor 
to  appoint  three  commissioners,  only  two  of  whom  shall  be 
adherents  of  the  same  party.  They  are  to  aid  the  Governor 
in  preparing  rules  for  open  competitive  examinations,  for 
testing  the  fitness  of  applicants  for  office,  and  subsequently 
to  see  that  they  are  carried  into  effect  over  the  whole  State. 

Section  8  provides  that  the  Mayor  of  cities  having  a  pop- 
ulation of  over  50,000  is  authorized  to  prescribe  such  regula- 
tions for  the  admission  of  persons  into  the  civil  service  of 
the  city  as  may  best  promote  its  efficiency  and  ascertain 


II 


the  fitness  of  candidates  in  respect  to  character,  knowledge 
and  ability  for  the  service  they  seek  to  enter  .  .  .  and 
with  power  to  establish  regulations  for  the  conduct  of 
appointees.  These  regulations  are  not  to  extend  to  any 
elective  officer  or  to  those  seeking  to  enter  the  police, 
health,  fire,  educational,  or  law  departments  of  any  city,  nor 
to  any  officer  having  the  custody  of  public  moneys,  for  the 
safekeeping  of  which  any  head  of  an  office  has  given  bonds. 

Each  of  the  boards  or  the  officer  at  the  head  of  each  of 
such  departments,  is  given  like  authority  to  that  exercised 
by  the  Mayor,  over  applicants  seeking  to  enter  such  depart- 
ments, which  authority  is  to  be  exercised  after  consultation 
with  the  Mayor.  All  examinations  to  be  public,  and  the 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  Governor  are  to  report  the 
result. 

Officers  soliciting  or  receiving  political  contributions  or 
assessments  are  subjected  to  fine  and  imprisonment,  as 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor. 

After  the  4t.l1  of  January,  1884,  no  officer  or  clerk  is  to  be 
appointed  or  promoted  until  he  shall  have  passed  such  ex- 
amination or  is  specially  exempted  from  it  by  the  act.  No 
elective  officer  and  no  person  employed  merely  as  a  laborer 
is  subject  to  this  provision. 

The  Mayor  of  New  York,  on  the  15th  of  December  last, 
adopted  regulations  as  prescribed  by  the  act,  and  they  may 
be  found  in  the  City  record  of  the  26th  of  that  month 
Schedules  A,  B,  C  and  D  are  contained  in  it,  by  which  the 
classes  of  employes  are  divided  as  follows  : 

A.  Confidential  deputies  of  officers  and  commissioners 
and  stenographers. 

B.  Clerks,  copyists,  recorders,  book-keepers,  and  others 
rendering  clerical  services. 

C.  All  persons  not  being  laborers  or  workmen  not  in- 
cluded in  A  and  B. 

D.  All  persons  employed  as  laborers  or  day  workmen. 
Three  boards  of  examiners  are  to  be  provided,  each  to 

consist  of  three  persons,  only  two  of  whom  shall  belong  to 
the  same  political  party.  One  board  for  positions  in 
schedule  B,  one  for  positions  in  schedule  C,  except  nurses, 


12 


attendants,  and  orderlies  for  hospitals,  asylums  in  the  De- 
partment of  Public  Charities  and  Correction  ;  one  for  such 
excepted  persons.  Those  in  schedule  A  are  to  be  appointed 
without  examination.  The  compensation  of  examiners  and 
of  a  clerk  to  act  as  the  secretary  of  the  several  boards  to  be 
fixed  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  "  and 
the  said  Boards  of  Examiners  shall  be  allowed,  with  the 
approval  of  the  Mayor,  to  employ  assistants  and  incur  ex- 
penses not  to  exceed  in  the  aggregate  $2500  per  annum." 
Those  in  schedule  D  are  not  to  be  examined,  but  all 
changes  under  it  and  all  appointments  under  schedules  A,  B 
and  C  are  to  be  reported  and  recorded  by  the  clerk,  who  is 
to  be  in  the  Mayor's  office  when  not  engaged  for  the  exam- 
ining boards.  The  Mayor  reserves  the  right  to  appoint  the 
examiners  and  to  substitute  others  in  their  place  with  power 
to  "  detail  or«employ"  such  clerk. 

The  defect  of  the  Mayor's  regulations  appear  in  the  con- 
trol which  he  reserves  over  the  appointment  and  removal  of 
examiners  and  of  their  clerk.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that 
the  act  may  be  used  as  a  means  of  perfecting  the  discipline 
and  strength  of  a  dominant  party.  It  will  be  in  the  power 
of  the  Legislature  to  give  to  the  examining  boards  and  their 
clerk  a  less  precarious  tenure,  and  to  give  to  the  laboring 
class  facilities  for  reaching  employment  in  the  City  inde- 
pendently of  Aldermen,  who  will  be  able,  as  heretofore,  to 
force  their  servile  nominees  upon  officers  who  employ  labor- 
ing men.  The  workings  of  the  act  will  'be  watched  with 
great  interest.  It  will  require  years  of  effort  to  secure  the 
benefits  which  it  may  ultimately  accomplish. 

Mr.  William  S.  Andrews,  a  Democratic  representative 
from  this  City,  proposed  the  following  addition  to  Section  9 
of  Art.  8  of  the  Constitution,  and  it  was  adopted  by  the 
Legislature  of  1882,  and  will  be  up  for  concurrent  adoption 
by  the  present  Legislature. 

"  The  Legislature  shall  not  pass  any  special  or  local  bill 
affecting  the  local  or  municipal  government  of  a  city,  nor 
shall  the  Legislature  provide  for  the  filling  of  any  municipal 
office  now  existing,  or  hereafter  to  be  created,  otherwise 
than  by  popular  election  or  by  appointment  of  the  Mayor, 


13 


with  or  without  confirmation  of  the  highest  legislative 
branch  of  the  municipal  government." 

The  question,  what  measures  shall  be  adopted  for  the 
future  government  of  the  City,  is  one  as  to  which  there  are 
wide  differences  of  opinion.  Universal  suffrage  is  of  course 
to  continue.  That  of  the  City,  connected  as  it  is  so  largely 
with  grog  shops,  must,  for  a  long  time,  be  essentially  bad 
and  dangerous.  That  of  the  State  at  large,  founded  as  it  is 
largely  on  the  agricultural  interest,  is  far  safer.  The  result 
of  the  election  last  November  clearly  shows  the  superiority 
of  the  voters  in  the  State  over  those  of  the  City.  The 
number  of  grog  shops  in  the  State,  as  compared  with  the 
other  instrumentalities  which  influence  voters,  is  not  large 
enough  to  poison  the  suffrage,  and  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
part  of  wisdom  not  to  pass  this  amendment  to  Section  9  of 
Art.  8,  for  the  present  at  least.  We  need  relief  now  from 
the  abuses  which  prevail  in  most,  if  not  in  all,  the  depart- 
ments of  the  City  Government,  and  it  will  be  in  vain  to  ex- 
pect it,  as  long  as  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works  is 
clothed  with  an  expenditure  which  enables  him  to  influence 
the  election  of  mayors,  comptrollers,  judges,  and  other 
officials.' 

The  State  has  not  satisfied  public  expectation  as  to  what 
it  should  do  in  the  government  of  cities,  because  it  has  but 
little  experience  in  this  object,  and  the  Republican  party, 
through  some  of  its  officials,  has  always  been  ready  to  join 
dishonest  Democrats  in  dividing  the  spoils.  While  reform 
is  for  the  present  entirely  hopeless  as  a  permanent  policy  to 
be  derived  from  the  City,  it  is  not  so  in  the  State  at  large. 
If  respectable  citizens  shall  make  a  proper  effort  to  this  end, 
the  State  can  be  more  readily  influenced  to  bestow  upon  us 
the  benefits  and  blessings  of  good  government,  than  can  a 
voting  population,  in  which  every  tramp,  every  gambler, 
every  thief,  and  every  vagabond  is  enrolled  on  one  side. 

This  Club,  which  in  its  origin  gave  its  whole  influence  to 
the  right  determination  of  all  the  great  public  questions  of 
the  time,  and  became  famous  throughout  the  Union  for  its 
patriotism,  can  now  win  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the 
Nation  which  it  helped  to  unite,  if  it  will  secure  for  the 


Union  the  example  of  a  city  governed  with  wisdom  and 
virtue.  In  that  case  New  York  will  be  the  true  metropolis 
of  our  great  country. 

The  adoption  of  the  following  resolutions  is  recommended  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Club  the  well-known  and  no- 
torious facts  concerning  the  management  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works 
renders  it  one  of  the  first  duties  of  the  present  Legislature  to  make  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  Department,  and  to  take  such  action  thereon  at  this 
session  as  the  facts  thereby  ascertained  shall  warrant. 

Resolved,  That  Chapter  56  of  the  laws  of  1871,  entitled  "An  act  to  provide 
a  further  supply  of  pure  and  wholesome  water  for  the  City  of  New  York 
should  be  limited  in  its  operation  to  the  completion  of  the  Bronx  River 
Aqueduct,  reservoirs,  and  appurtenances. 

Resolved,  That  the  completion  of  the  Bronx  River  Aqueduct,  reservoirs, 
and  appurtenances  should  be  committed,  with  full  and  ample  powers,  to  the 
commissioners  appointed  under  and  by  virtue  of  Chap.  490  of  the  laws 
cf  18S3. 

Resolved,  That  the  amendment  to  Section  9  of  Article  8  of  the  Constitution 
of  this  State,  agreed  to  in  1S82  by  a  majority  of  the  members  elected  to  each 
of  the  two  houses,  ought  not,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Club,  to  be  agreed  to 
by  a  majority  of  all  the  members  of  the  present  Legislature. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Club  are  due  to  Thomas  B.  Asten,  one 
of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  for  his  vigorous  efforts  in 
limiting  the  amount  which  may  be  raised  by  taxation  in  1SS4. 

f 

S.  M.  Blatchford,  GEO.  B.  BUTLER, 

Secretary.  Chairman. 

At  a  meeting  of  "  The  Union  League  Club,"  held  at  the 
Club  House  January  10,  1884,  the  above  report  and  reso- 
lutions, which  had  been  printed  and,  at  the  meeting,  dis- 
tributed, were  read  by  Mr.  Butler,  and,  on  his  motion,  the 
report  was  accepted,  and  the  resolutions — voted  on  sepa- 
rately— were  adopted  ;  the  report  and  resolutions  to  be 
printed  and  sent  to  the  members  of  the  Legislature  and  to 
the  members  of  the  Club. 

ALBON  P.  MANN, 

Vice-President. 

D.  MlLLIKEN,  JR., 

Secretary. 


REFORMS  IN  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT. 

REPLY  TO   THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES. 


To  the  Editor  of  The  Tribune. 

Sir  :  The  amendment  to  Section  9  of  Article  VIII.  of  the  Constitution, 
proposed  by  a  city  Democrat,  and  now  before  the  Legislature  for  concurrent 
action  with  that  of  1882,  provides  as  follows  :  First,  "  The  Legislature  shall 
not  pass  any  special  or  local  bill  affecting  the  municipal  government  of  a 
city  ;"  Second,  "  Nor  shall  the  Legislature  provide  for  the  filling  of  any 
municipal  office  now  existing  or  hereafter  to  be  created  otherwise  than  by 
popular  election  or  by  appointment  of  the  Mayor,  with  or  without  confirma- 
tion of  the  highest  legislative  branch  of  the  city  government."  Neither  can 
be  adopted  alone.  The  New  York  Times  supports  both  and  attacks  the 
Committee  of  Political  Reform  of  the  Union  League  Club,  of  which  I  am 
chairman,  for  opposing  agreement  to  it  by  the  Legislature.  In  this  the  com- 
mittee was  supported  by  the  Club. 

The  adoption  of  the  first  branch  of  the  amendment  would  prevent  any  but 
general  laws,  applicable  alike  to  all  cities.  Test  the  wisdom  of  this  by  a 
single  case.  The  present  charter  (Chapter  403  of  the  Laws  of  1882)  re- 
quires that  each  of  the  twenty-four  Aldermen  shall  reside  in  the  district  for 
which  he  is  chosen.  In  the  First  Ward,  for  instance,  vast  numbers  of  our 
citizens  do  business  on  a  large  scale  at  their  offices  or  stores,  but  they  reside 
in  the  fashionable  Wards.  No  one  of  them,  therefore,  can  be  nominated  in 
the  district  where  his  office  is  situated,  and  the  nomination  and  election  of 
an  Alderman  is  left  to  the  persons  who  reside  there.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
describe  them,  for  they  are  well  known.  Their  nominee  is  of  the  class  of 
his  constituents.  Some  of  the  important  men  who  transact  business  in  the 
Ward  desire  to  have  the  charter  so  changed  that  the  nominee  for  Alderman 
may  be  selected  from  among  those  who  have  places  of  business  in  the  dis- 
trict, but  reside  elsewhere  in  the  city.  They  think  that  the  district  might  be 
carried  by  great  exertions  if  the  change  were  made,  and  that  a  great  benefit 
would  result.  Now,  if  the  constitutional  amendment  were  in  force  no  such 
change  could  be  made  by  the  Legislature.  It  would  be  "  a  special  or  local 
act  affecting  the  municipal  government  of  a  city."  This  the  amendment 
prevents.  A  general  law  applicable  to  the  whole  State,  providing  for  such  a 
change  in  the  election  of  Aldermen,  would  be  impolitic,  because  in  most 
other  cities  it  is  proper  and  necessary  to  have  each  representative  in  their 
respective  Boards  of  Aldermen  a  resident  of  the  locality  he  represents. 

Other  citizens  think  that  if  our  twenty-four  Aldermen  were  elected  under 
a  general  ticket — the  nominees  to  be  selected  from  any  portion  of  the  city 


— each  party  would  choose  nominees  of  a  higher  grade.  This  change  could 
not  be  accomplished  if  the  constitutional  amendment  were  in  force. 

Take  the  case  of  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works  for  another  instance. 
This  officer  is  charged,  first,  with  encouraging  in  all  contracts  for  excavations 
a  system  of  unbalanced  bids,  by  which  contractors  in  collusion  with  engi- 
neers amass  heavy  fortunes  ;  and  second,  with  hourly  evading  the  positive 
provision  of  the  charter  requiring  a  contract  made  with  the  lowest  bidder  on 
sealed  bids  after  public  advertisement,  if  the  amount  of  a  purchase  exceeds 
$1000.  The  Club  resolved  that  these  methods  of  management  should  un- 
dergo legislative  investigation,  and  that  such  action  should  be  taken  as  the 
case  should  be  found  to  warrant. 

These  methods  of  management  need  to  be  remedied  by  legislation. 
Suppose  the  amendments  were  in  force  that  the  Legislature  shall  not  pass 
any  special  or  local  bill  affecting  the  municipal  government  of  a  city. 
What  could  be  done  ?  The  Commissioner  could  not  be  legislated  out  of 
office,  however  richly  this  was  deserved.  That  would  affect  the  municipal 
government.  It  would  equally  affect  the  municipal  government  to  require 
that  no  contracts  or  purchases  should  be  made  by  him,  without  the  con- 
currence of  some  firm  and  reliable  head  of  some  other  department,  if  such 
can  be  found.  True  the  laws  provide  a  mode  for  the  removal  of  this  officer 
by  the  Mayor  for  cause,  after  investigation  (the  approval  in  writing  of  the 
Governor  to  be  obtained  before  such  removal  takes  effect),  but  the  Mayor, 
as  is  alleged,  declined  to  investigate. 

These  out  of  hundreds  of  instances  which  may  be  presented,  indicate  that 
the  first  branch  of  the  proposed  constitutional  amendment  is  precisely  what 
the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works  would  prescribe.  Home  rule,  if  feasible 
at  all,  must  be  preceded  by  a  charter  prepared  by  the  best  citizens.  A 
proper  local  government  must  exist  before  an  imperative  and  practically 
unchangeable  constitutional  amendment  shall  be  adopted.  If  adopted  in 
advance  of  such  provision,  great  confusion  would  result.  Disaster  would 
also  follow,  except  to  the  party  which  is  heavily  reinforced  by  large  emigra- 
tion and  quick  naturalization. 

The  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  with  his  great  influence  over  Mayors, 
Judges,  and  legislators,  and  with  no  other  power  over  him  than  might  be 
exercised  by  a  home  government — for  which,  owing  to  defective  legislation, 
we  are  wholly  unprepared — would  be  supreme. 

GEO.  B.  BUTLER, 

Chairman  Committee  of  Political  Reform,  Union  League  Club. 
New  York,  January  12,  1884. 


